Reaction and speculation to the Blizzard and Sony newly announced partnership.
What will the future hold?
The Optimism
Blizzard is smart. They would not be as successful as they are if this wasn’t the case. So as much as I want to criticize them for this move, I feel like there must be more to it. This is purely speculation, but it is possible that Chris’s comment on creating a “strategic partnership” with Sony may suggest that more is afoot. My experience with corporate culture does tell me that words like this are often misused to make a decision sound important, but go along with this for a bit.
In all honesty, when the game from Blizzard was about to be announced I was ready to finally see the reveal of their yet-to-be shown MMO ‘Titan’. I figured that would be the way you cap this whole press event off with a bang. While I was disappointed when that did not happen, I couldn’t help but feel that the end-game here is truly that.
The one positive I can think of from releasing Diablo on both the PS3 and PS4 will be that it will get the Blizzard name in front of more consumers. Those completed dedicated console gamers will finally see the blue wintery sign we all have grown to love. This would then be a great pre-cursor to announcing a huge new MMO that would span the PC and PS4 markets. Blizzard has said that they are using all of their lessons learned from World of Warcraft and applying them to their next MMO. Making a game that has more console friendly controls, thereby expanding their market, would make sense.
Unfortunately, all of this may just be “pie in the sky” thinking. This could just be the latest in Activision’s money grab schemes and nothing else. Still, I hope that this is more. I hope that this is foundation for a new gaming experience that will further break down the walls between the console and PC communities.
